If the apparently didactic title of Anthony Howell’s book belies the poems in it, that is to be expected of a writer for whom little is what it seems. The law adhered to in Howell’s Law is the law of surprise. And from the start – a lengthy poem in quatrains describing the attempt to get a horse into its box – the book springs poetic surprises. Howell’s sheer invention, variety and wit make this a highly enjoyable book by a poet who, Peter Porter wrote, ‘has style to spare and is happily unclassifiable’.